President Vladimir Putin visits military HQ for Ukraine offensive: Kremlin

This pool photograph distributed by Russian state owned agency Sputnik shows Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, accompanied by Army chief of staff Valery Gerasimov, visits the military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don that is overseeing the country’s military action in Ukraine, on October 19, 2023. (Photo by Gavriil GRIGOROV / POOL / AFP)

MOSCOW, Oct 20, 2023 (AFP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has visited the military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don that is overseeing the Ukraine offensive, the Kremlin said on Friday.

Putin “has visited the Russian armed forces headquarters in Rostov-on-Don on his way back from Perm,” a city in the Urals where he spent Thursday, the Kremlin said in a statement.

Army chief of staff Valery Gerasimov met with Putin to update him on the state of the Ukraine offensive, which Russia launched in February, 2022.

The meeting came after Ukraine’s announcement on Tuesday that it had for the first time used US-supplied ATACMS long-range missiles in the conflict.

Putin said the following day that the weapons, which have a range of 165 kilometres (103 miles) would have no influence on the war and would only prolong Ukraine’s “agony”.